Real Irish Wedding: Loraine & Michael

~ Real Life Wedding

Real Irish Wedding: 21st August 2013, The Belfast Barge, Lanyon Quay.

According to statistics, up to one third of all married couples meet their partners online, meaning your dream man could be just one click away…

For Loraine, that dream man was much closer than she thought. In fact, after chatting away on the Internet, Loraine discovered that her future husband lived just around the corner.

The proposal

Hopeless romantic Michael proposed to Loraine during a trip to London in April 2012. “We went to a fancy restaurant and when my dessert came out it said will you marry me in chocolate writing on the plate,” she said. “When I looked up he had the engagement ring (he and my twin sister went weeks before to pick it together and I had no idea, she normally can’t hide anything!)”

The venue

“We chose the Belfast Barge as when we were first dating we went out a walk round by the Waterfront one lunchtime and we saw people coming and going from the Barge so we decided to have a nosey.

“We discovered there was a restaurant on board and made plans to have a lunch date the following week. We loved it and so every few weeks we’d go back for lunch and on one of those dates we both just happened to say it would be a great place for a wedding!

“We have both been married before and therefore we felt able to do it how we wanted this time. We wanted a really informal day with very little of the traditional formalities. We also wanted something different having had the big church/hotel wedding before.”

The dress

“Because it was going to be on a boat I knew I didn’t want a big massive wedding dress that was going to be a hassle getting about in so that’s why I decided on a short wedding dress. I contacted Jenny Lindop in Bangor and she didn’t have any short dresses but said she had one in mind for alterations. This dress had a massive train and Jenny altered it! I loved it and it was great walking about.”

The theme

“The vintage wedding theme came about after the short dress was decided. It just seemed to fit in so well with the venue and the quirkiness we were looking for.

“Sweetheart Vintage weddings in Newtownards were brilliant and really make the boat look amazing. We had 40 guests for a sit down meal and roughly 90 in the evening. Some guest chilled out on the top deck looking over the river lagan and then there was a cheesy disco down below.”